Welcome to AFLA !

A brief history

In 1994, a small group of Austronesianists met at the University of Toronto. Their purpose was to create an organisation that promotes the study of Austronesian languages from a formal perspective. While conferences dedicated solely to Austronesian languages existed at the time, none were focused primarily on formal approaches to the study of this language family. That pioneering group of linguists consisted of Anna Maclachlan, Diane Massam, Richard McGinn, Barry Miller and Lisa Travis. The audience at what was to be the first annual meeting of AFLA was made up of students and faculty at the University of Toronto.

It was during that meeting that the name for the conference was chosen. It had initially been proposed that the conference be called GALA, the Generative Austronesian Linguistics Association. However, another conference already bears that name. AGLA was too ugly, so it was decided that the conference be called AFLA. This has proven to be very fitting choice given that AFLA serves as a forum for research couched in a variety of formal approaches. From that initial meeting in 1994 onwards, each meeting has furthered the unwritten mandate of AFLA to encourage the formal study of Austronesian languages, especially work by speaker-linguists and by junior scholars.